It’s been awhile since I found time to work on some Farmer’s Wife blocks. The quilt shop where I was taking classes closed. Now that I don’t cart it back and forth, I have put my templates into some containers that are easier to browse through. As I finish each block, I check the size against my 6 1/2″ square ruler to see if it passes muster. Yesterday I sewed the four remaining blocks for which I had pieces cut. Even the scary one turned out fairly well!
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Tagged blocks, Farmer's Wife, quilt, quilting
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Tagged blocks, Farmer's Wife, quilting, Sewing
I’m slowly learning ways to streamline the Farmer’s Wife block making process. I select fabric for several blocks and iron it in layers in a big stack on the ironing board (iron one at a time as you add it to the stack). I also mark my templates so that they share a cutting line which makes cutting go faster. Speaking of cutting, I got these new little Fiskars after seeing a fancy precision cutting demo at the quilt show but they are so tight they made a bruise on my finger. I loosened the screw just a tiny bit and now they feel much better.
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Tagged blocks, Farmer's Wife, quilt, quilting, tips
The block at the top is an example of a block for which I really needed Cathy’s help. There’s a y-seam on the flower petals and she made it seam so easy.
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Tagged blocks, Farmer's Wife, quilting
I’ve been plugging along at the Farmer’s Wife blocks as time permits. Sadly, this week I learned that the local quilt shop where I take Farmer’s Wife class is closing at the end of the year. Suddenly, these blocks are a higher priority as I really don’t want to switch instructors mid-stream. I am about 1/3 of the way through them and will try to get as many done as I can while Cathy is still available to help out when I get stuck.
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Tagged blocks, Farmer's Wife, quilting
Yesterday, despite with help from Riley and Gabby I assembled all the Sister’s Choice blocks into the quilt top ready for borders to be put on. There was a brief moment where I thought maybe I should have done sashing but I quickly changed my mind. I did realize that one of my border fabrics is just not going to work so that will become pillow shams instead and I’ll look for a replacement fabric for that one border.
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Tagged blocks, quilting, Sister's Choice
I did squeeze in time for 5 more blocks for the graduation quilt yesterday. I’m getting there, slowly but surely!
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Tagged blocks, quilt, quilting, Sewing, Sister's Choice
Pressing my blocks properly was really starting to drive me crazy. I haven’t had the new ironing board cover for very long but already it’s degraded beyond useful and since the ironing board isn’t a solid surface it really makes a difference. I’ve been meaning to do an ironing board makeover for at least a year and the wonkiness of the bear claw block was the last straw. I used a combination of Madame Purl’s method and the tutorial from Sew We Quilt. My board is 1/2-inch poplar plywood and it’s covered with two twin cotton quilt battings, each folded in half, and a layer of duck cloth. It’s screwed to the ironing board (old cover removed) as directed in the Sew We Quilt tutorial. Now that’s a bit better!
Comments Off on A few more blocks and an ironing board makover
Tagged blocks, Farmer's Wife, quilt, quilter's ironing board, quilting, Sewing